Foreshortening lasts



June 26, 1962 v. J. LEVAGGI, JR 3,

FORESHORTENING LASTS Filed Nov. 2, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor VictorfLevaygz' Jr z By his Attorney United States 3,040,349 FORESHGRTENINGLASTS Victor J. Levaggi, Jr., Beverly, Mass, assignor to United ShoeMachinery Corporation, Boston, Mass, a corporation of New Jersey FiledNov. 2, 1960, Ser. No. 66,783 4 Claims. (Cl. 12136) This inventionrelates generally to lasts of the type which comprise a forepart and aheel part hinged together, and has particular reference to a last ofthis type which is adapted to be opened and closed by automaticmachinery.

Withincreasing automation of shoe manufacture, it has been founddesirable to provide means for automatically opening the last in acompleted shoe in preparation for removal of the shoe from the last, andfor automatically closing the last, after the shoe is removed therefrom,prior to returning the last to storage.

Accordingly the object of the invention is to provide an improved lastwhich is particularly adapted for operation by automatic machinery.

A further object of the invention is to provide a two part lastcomprising a connecting and locking link which is adapted to unlock andopen the last by movement in one direction, and close and lock the lastby'movement in the reverse direction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a last assembly in whichthe forepart and heel part are retained in assembly by a connecting linkwhich is formed of a single piece of sheet metal which is longitudinallyresilient to draw the last parts tightly together when they are in theclosed position.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in theart from the following description of a specific embodiment thereof.

In the drawings:

.FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation, partly in section, of a lastembodying the features of the invention disposed in a completed shoewith the last link moving to the unlocked condition in preparation foropening the last to remove the shoe from the last;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with the last in the open position;

FIG. 3 is a view of the last of FIG. 1 after the shoe has been removedand the last closed and locked; and

FIG. 4 is a view in section taken on line IVIV of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a last which comprises aheel part 12 and a forepart 14 joined by a connecting link 16. The heelpart 12 is provided with a thimble hole 18., opening to the uppersurface, to receive a thimble post 20 disposed in a support jack 22.

The last 10 is of the type which is adapted to foreshorten by downwardtilting of the forepart in relation to the heel part (as observed whenthe last is in the upright position, i.e. bottom down), and for thispurpose the heel part and forepart have arcuate mating surfaces 2 and26, with a projection 28 in one part adapted to enter a correspondinglyshaped recess in the other part to prevent relative movement of theparts when they are drawn tightly together in the closed and lockedcondition.

To receive and permit operation of the link 16, the heel part andforepart are provided with relatively narrow slots 30 and 32respectively. The slot 3d in the heel part opens to the top of the lastto permit operation of the link in a manner to appear hereinafter.

The link 16 extends from the slot in the heel part into the slot in theforepart, and to retain the link and the last parts in assembly, theportion of the link in the heel part is provided with a pivot aperture34, receiving an anchor 3,04%,349 Patented June 26, 1962 pin 36extendingtransversely in the slot 30, and the portion of the linkextending into the forepart is provided with a locking aperture 38receiving a locking pin 40 extending transversely through the slot 32.To provide a resilient locking action as will appear hereinafter, themedial portion 42 of the link is offset laterally from a line extendingbetween the apertures 34 and 38 to impart longitudinal'resilience to thelink.

The locking aperture 38 is elongated in a direction generallytransverseto a line joining the apertures and as viewed in the drawinghas an upper locking portion 44 and a lower unlocking portion 46separated by a rearwardly projecting curved portion 48. The forward edgeof the locking portion 44 of the aperture 38 is so positioned inrelation to the position of the locking pin 40 that when the last isclosed and the link is in the lower position, so that the pin 40 isseated in the locking portion, the link is maintained under tensionbetween the pins, to draw the last parts tightly together. (See FIG. 3.)The forward edge of the unlocking portion 46 of the aperture is sospaced in relation to the locking pin that when the link is pivotedupwardly (see FIG. 1) the forepart 14 of the last may be moved away fromthe heel part far enough to disengage the projection 28 from its notchand permit the forepart to move upwardly to open the last and effectforeshortening to permit removal of a shoe disposed thereon. (See FIG.2.)

To enable the last to be opened and closed by automatic machinery thelink 16 is provided with an operating arm 50 which extends out of thetop of the last from the .rear end of the link so that forward andrearward motion of the arm 50 about the pivot pin 36 effects unlockingand locking of the last as will appear hereinafter. To enable theoperation to be accomplished by an operating lever 52 of an automaticmachine (not shown) the arm 50 may be provided with a lever engagingmeans such as a notch '54.

In normal use, the last is maintained in storage in the closedcondition, and is also maintained in the closed condition throughout themanufacture of a shoe thereon. When the shoe is substantially completed,the last and shoe may be placed in any convenient handling mechanism(not shown) of which the jack 22 may be a part, with means for bringingthe operating arm 50 of the link into operative relation with the lever52.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, forward movement of the link arm 50first effects unlocking of the forward end of the link from the lockingpin 4'0 by causing counterclockwise pivoting of the link about the pivotpin 36 so that the portion 48 rides over the pin and the unlockingportion 46 of the aperture 38 moves into position around the pin 40. Thepresence of the shoe in the last tends to prevent separating of the lastparts, however, the rear edge of the portion 46 of the aperture, whichis inclined generally forwardly, tends to force the pin 44 and the forepart of the last forwardly far enough to disengage the projection 28from its recess. Thereafter, further forward motion of the arm 50, inpivoting the link further counterclockwise opens the last by tilting thefore Part thereof upwardly as viewed in FIG. 2 to effect foreshorteningthereby permitting removal of the shoe, either manually or by automaticmechanism (not shown).

After the shoe has been removed from the last, reverse movement of thelever 52, causing forward movement of the link arm 50, will initiallycause the forepart of the last to be returned to the closed condition sothat the surfaces 24 and 26 are again in engagement, and then cause thelast parts to be drawn tightly together as the portion 43 rides over thepin 40 to permit the pin 40 to seat in the locking portion 44, with thelink being thereby maintained under longitudinal tension as previouslydescribed. Thereafter the last may be removed from the jack 22,

either by hand or by suitable mechanism and returned to storage.

The above described last structure has a number or advantages over lastsof the prior art resulting from the use of a single relatively thinpiece of resilient material as the connectinglink, and the method ofincorporating said link into the last structure. One of the principaldisadvantages of many types of foreshortening lasts is the lack ofstrength resulting from removal of material to accommodate the lockingmechanism. When large cavities are required in the heel part andforepart to receive a locking mechanism; the ability of the last toresist the forces involved in shoeemaking operations such as soleleveling and heeling is greatly reduced. However, in-the last disclosedherein only a narrow slot is required in the forepart and heel part toaccommodate the link. Hence the strength of the last is not appreciablyimpaired.

Another advantage of the disclosed structure is the fact that, in thedesign of a particular last tariff, the desired strength of the lockingmechanism may be readily attained by a proper selection of the thicknessof the link without changing other dimensions thereof. Hence a singlepunch and die set may be utilized to form links having different lockingstrengths.

Although in the illustrated embodiment, the longitudinal resiliency ofthe link is imparted by the offset medial portion it will be understoodthat other shapes imparting longitudinal resilience may be utilized.

Since certain other modifications may be made in the device withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention it is intended that all mattercontained herein be inter preted in an illustrative and not in a limitedsense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A two-part foreshortening last comprising a forepart and a heel parthaving abutting faces, said last being adapted to open and becomeforeshortened by downward tilting of the forepart in relation to theheel part, said parts each having a recess extending into the part fromthe abutting face and a transverse anchor pin disposed in each recess,and a connecting link extending between the anchor pins, said link beingpivoted to the anchor pin in the heel part and having means engaging theanchor pin in the forepart, saidrineans having a locking positionengaging the anchor pin in the forepart so as to draw the last partstightly together and an unlocking position in which the forepart maytilt downwardly in relation to the heel part to open the last, said linkbeing movable from the locking position to the unlocking position bydownward pivoting, whereby downward pivoting of the link after unlockingcauses the last to open.

2. A two-part foreshortening last as set forth in claim 1 in which saidlink is longitudinally resilient between said anchor pins and the meansengaging the anchor pin in the forepart is so positioned that said linkis maintained in longitudinal tension when in the locking position todraw said last parts tightly ogether.

3. A two-part foreshortening last as set forth in claim 2 in which saidlink is longitudinally resilient and is maintained in a flexed conditionto draw the last parts tightly together when the link is in the lockingposition.

4. A two-part foreshortening last comprising a forepart and a heel parthaving abutting faces which have interengaging portions to preventrelative movement when the parts are drawn tightly together, each ofsaid parts having a narrow vertical recess extending in from theabutting face, a transverse anchor pin in each recess spaced from theabutting face, and a connecting link disposed in said recesses andextending between said anchor pins thereby maintaining the last parts inassembly, said link being pivotally joined to the anchor pin in the heelpart and having an aperture in the portion disposed in the forepartreceiving the anchor pin disposed therein, said link having a portionbetween the pins which is longitudinally resilient, said aperture beingelongated in a direction generally perpendicular to a line between thepins and being shaped and positioned to provide a locking portion at thelower end thereby, and an unlocking portion at the upper end separatedby a shoulder portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,429,233 Lev-aggi Oct. 21, 1947

